Davidmk

It was hard work but I did make something workable that I've been using live for a few months. I'm quit pleased by it. It was supposed to be customisable and sort of is but I've sort of forgotten what I need to do to make a 'clean' version. I've got a few weeks off after Friday so I guess I'll be on the laptop for most of them. Hints... If you have programming experience you may feel like putting a lot of code in the root so that you only have one copy and using messaging to execute it. Snag with that is the sending module will hang until the processing initiated by the message has completed. Find the Lua manual online here as well as the TouchOSC manual here. Refer to both often. There are scripting examples online - Google them yourself. Use label & text objects that have the visible property set to false to store values you want to share among modules. Get the hang of the hierarchy. Modules live in a tree structure where you can refer to them relatively (self.parent.children.object-name) or directly (root.children.object1-name.children.object2-name). You can also use array notation (root.children[pointer]) and loops to simplify code. (I'm not doing this with code examples in front of me, I hope I've got the notation right) Try out arrays. You can have arrays of anything including arrays. Check out the functions especially the callbacks and these. Finally, happy to indulge in a DM conversation as long as you accept that I cannot always get back quickly.

Windows-like "Save" and "Save As" could be a good idea. As to versioning, I think full show files with incremental version numbers (rather than base file with deltas) is more robust. On the separate subject of partial loading... This would be so helpful even if it was restricted to files with the same patch - most of my work is in the same venue with very rare changes to the patch and I suspect there are a lot of users in that position. To be able to (do the equivalent of) open a second showfile and copy individual cues, pallettes and any other things you could make possible would be brilliant!

Agreed

This is exactly right. Took a bit of getting used to (I put the date at the front myself) but it's routine now. Just tap at the end of the filename to unselect and proceed to BS at will.

Well, sadly you are a bit far for me to give physical help. Maybe someone else will notice your plight. You really have to find the switches or circuit breakers that will switch your dimmers off. That is pretty weird behaviour but that is with the desk connected, I'm still wondering about the weird behaviour when it is not connected though. Anyway, in a few hours you should get a response from someone with more knowledge.

I expect someone from zero88 will be along in the morning with better advice but, in the meantime, can I pick up on a couple of things that I'm pretty sure they will ask about. If the desk isn't connected to the packs then it cannot be responsible for things that start after it is disconnected. Worse case scenario here is that the dimmer packs 'remember' the last state before the disconnection. Not sure if your packs do this, Z88 person will, no doubt, confirm. Do you leave your dimmer packs on 24/7? This isn't a good idea in any case, they are using current even when they are at zero% on the desk an there's generally current going through anything attached to them. If nothing else this is bad for the electricity bill. If they are off they can't go silly at 3am either. Lastly, it's a long shot, but mention roughly where you are. There's a chance there's an experienced forum member in your vicinity who would be willing to take a look at your set up. I'm Milton Keynes based myself if you are somewhere near me.

Aha, OK, so it isn't possible to have null values in defaults. That would seem to be the crucial thing missing from my understanding of them. Many thanks for that.

Thank you @Edward Z88. So, just down to careless recording. Not surprised. Did expect update remove to get rid of colour values for the affected fixtures though. Mention to @kgallen so he sees your response.

Default (and home) holds a value for everything. It can even hold an intensity. I was trying to change pan & tilt to zero in this case but I frequently change colour to black. It most certainly would have but I wanted to change default so it didn't alarm me and I meant to only select position and nothing else. Generally though, I have an MFK where I keep my pseudo defaults for a gig. Values I want when I'm not doing something else with them. Where I want moving heads to be, stair edge lights at 50%, MH washes white (it's black in the real default). Anything that just applies to that show rather than to that fixture.

That's the one. It was a colour effect. Selecting one of the affected fixtures showed the name of the effect under colour and source showed D under colour. Hence me thinking it was recorded under default. I'm prepared to accept that this is supposed (and maybe is) impossible but, if it was something else then I love to know what. The fix, ultimately, was to record an actual colour into default and then to delete it. Don't know how I managed to record it, don't know if I can repeat it. Or, indeed, how to avoid repeating it.

Just in from a gig providing lights for live music at a fireworks display. Not my usual rig so no TouchOSC/go-cue set up as it would take too long to program. I quickly thew together some colour mixing PBs and a few effects PBs and relied on the programmer for other bits & bobs. Part way through the gig I must have accidentally recorded the warm rainbow into default (I was probably intending to only change default tilt to 0 instead of the normal 50%) All my LEDs get stuck on a version of white, my colour mixing faders don't work but I can still override the colour in the programmer. Tried the obvious update/remove but it had no effect. Eventually I tried setting the default to red and then I don't suppose we are supposed to record effects as default, it dosn't make sense Anyway,to cut to the chase... What's the right to get to get effects out of defaults if you accidentally put them in?

Need a / at the front I think but, yeah, that looks right.

You are in the right place. I'm speaking from memory here, I only have a tablet to hand and I've never managed to work out the editor under Android so I only use the Windows version to edit. Also, I don't use this method, I send all the OSC commands in script. The simplest way is, I think... Delete everything under Address and Arguments. Click the + next to Address Select Constant and add the whole command, as in Edward's example, as a string. Thing is, TouchOSC (both versions), have a lot of idiosyncrasies that are going to drive you up the wall. MK1 is simpler and for, testing out the desk side, a great deal less frustrating. However it's simplicity means you can't build a nice looking interface or do anything subtle. The editor in the Android version of MK2 is, frankly, awful - hence my recommendation you use the Windows version. I did look at offerings from elsewhere but didn't find anything better for what I had in mind. You think this is bad? Wait until you try scripts and the Lua language. I got through it but it was a struggle and my code still isn't pretty. It can be done 😊

Replied to your PM as well. @Edward Z88 may want to move this to General as it isn't specific to a single Z88 product.

Look for Messages (probably Messages (0) and click the + on the right. You'll get a pop up that lets you select OSC. Alternatively, you can add a a script to the button containing an onValueChanged function but, if this is your 1st foray into MK2, you probably want to leave that "world of delights" for a bit. Have fun!

Yep, that's right. As I said... And Edward said...

I really should research these, makes me wonder if I'm doing something the hard way through lack of knowledge.

I never wanted to use inhibit on anything other than intensity so it comes as no surprise (or dissapointment) that it isn't possible.

It sort of does and doesn't. All I'm doing with it really is using it to give single key access to go cue. TouchOSC lets me put a label on the button and give it a colour so I can find it quickly and it lets me line up several go cues to execute (almost) at the same time. Each button can execute the same go cue in multiple playbacks and, although I can't change which on the fly I can switch them in and out. There's something like 2000 lines of code in it. I used to be a computer programmer so it wasn't too hard to pick up the new language but it still took me a few weeks to write and I still regard it as a trial version.

Not tried this. I usually just want a very specific selection of stuff however, if you are busking in the programmer and want to capture a "look" it would be more efficient than using a playback.

I see but if you have a selection of positions in cues with times for position fades you can achieve a similar result between any two of them. OK the time is fixed but I suppose you might use snap to cue (it's no use to me, our MHs are flown and heavy - if they move too quick it takes a while before the bar stops swaying) You can use a normal fader playback to fade from "wherever they are at the moment" to "somewhere else" and back again though.

Now, my take on this is to divide each group of LED PARS into odds (fixtures 1, 3, etc) and evens (2, 4, etc) and have separate cue stacks for each. That way I can have them all the same, two similar (e.g red & orange) or two contrasting (e.g. Red & blue). Somewhere else (not under OSC control) I have an intensity chase between odd & even that I control by tap tempo (FLX MFK again I'm afraid but I think it can be done other ways). It effectively becomes a 2 colour chase that way.

Not sure I fully understand all of that but, going on my - potentially flawed - interpretation... Looking at your Colours playbacks I have two possible interpretations They fade between the colours named. I hope I'm wrong here because that would be a messy version of RGB mixing using more precious playbacks. These are repositories for cues that give colours in the ranges specified. This is better and not a rubbish idea however there are disadvantages. Firstly you are using 6 playbacks where one would do, for music you don't need a lot of colours and they don't need a lot of subtle shades and a single playback can be manageable. One of the strengths of using a cue stack is that cues replace each other. If have a cue active in PB25 and then activate a cue in PB26 it will override the one in PB31 (LTP remember) and if you release PB32 then it will return to the one from PB25. Not too bad but consider what happens when you've had a lot of colour changes and haven't released any of them, will you know what will happen if you release the latest one? I can't remember what happens with fade time either I have a feeling it fades sometimes, not others. Neither of the above. I didn't understand, maybe you need to enlighten me. My interpretation of and comments on the rest will have to wait.

It does its "the best thing since sliced bread", I already replied quickly to your PM. I'll elaborate there in a bit.

Yes I do. Lots of people do this and make great use of groups & pallettes to make it easier - even I do it sometimes. What I don't like is that you only have one programmer and you end up with a mixture of stuff where it is difficult to separate the ingredients. Well worth trying out for yourself if only to discover what you like and don't like about it. Then you only need alternatives for the things you don't like. I don't think S series have blind mode, if you do have it then take a look at that as well. One thing you can do, busking in the programmer, when you achieve a state you might want again, is record it to a playback. With careful use of record options you might even be able to separate out just the ingredients you want. When I use the programmer it is for a particular, restricted, reason (e.g apply an effect to a group of fixtures) and when I'm done with it I clear the programmer ready for the next time.